11 Year Old Charged w/ Killing Pregnant Woman

[Nessa]

WAMPUM, Pa. â?? An 11-year-old boy has been charged in the death of a pregnant woman who was found shot in a bedroom of her western Pennsylvania farmhouse, police said Saturday.
A statement from state police said the boy was charged with criminal homicide and criminal homicide of an unborn child in the killing of 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk. The victim was 8 months pregnant.
The statement said the boy had been arraigned in District Court and placed in the Lawrence County jail.
Officers couldn't immediately say Saturday whether the boy and the woman were related and wouldn't give any other details.
Police said Houk's 5-year-old daughter found her mother's body Friday morning in a bedroom of their home in a wooded area in the community of Wampum.
The home, located at the end of a half-mile-long driveway along a road scattered with abandoned and burned-out trailers, was cordoned off with yellow police tape and a Pennsylvania State Police vehicle was parked out front early Saturday afternoon. Next to the house was farm equipment and a barn filled with hay.
A neighbor, Cameron Tucker, said Houk was engaged and had been renting the house for no more than a year. Tucker said he had never met Houk's fiance, but that both of them had children.
"She was very protective of her kids," he said, adding that she seemed very excited about her pregnancy.
Tucker's wife sometimes drove Houk's daughter to the bus stop because she went to preschool with the Tuckers' 5-year-old.
WPXI-TV identified the dead woman's father as Jack Houk. There was no immediate response Saturday to a call by The Associated Press seeking comment from a Jack Houk of New Castle, a town next to Wampum.
A preliminary hearing is set for Thursday.
The rural community is about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

Eleven years old. ELEVEN.

[Snoopy]

"Shakes head in disgust" and wonders what exactly the motive would be of an eleven year old to shoot and kill an eight months pregnant woman. This is just sick...

[Lita]

My brain went blank after reading this. Then it filled with a lot of questions like motive? Means (how did he get the gun)? Maybe it was her fiance's son who thought of her as an evil stepmom figure? I don't get it.

[lynn wilson]

When i first read this i wondered if he had found a gun and was just shooting.. maybe not meaning to kill anyone...

[Cadence71]

Awful. Regardless of the reason.

[letty1970]

How terrible. how did the police know it was the 11 year old. Poor 5 year old. Poor unborn baby.What a sad case.

[carebearsluv]

What's wrong with these little crumb snatchers nowadays? Gosh!

[KristinEileen]

What's wrong with these little crumb snatchers nowadays? Gosh!

Good question! I can't imagine being 11 years old and having such malice for someone and then shooting that person. When I was 11 I was more concerned about what was on TV and playing outside with my friends. The only thing I hated was homework and vegetables.

[NOVSTORM]

I sometimes blame the movies we seem to let these kids watch and video games that shoot and kill anything that moves. Maybe it is the fact that these kids seem to have easy access to guns or he is suffering from some kind of mental illness that more and more kids seem to suffer from today. Illnesses I never saw or heard of while I was growing up. I sometimes wonder if all the drugs people did in the 60 to now have done something to the genes we are passing down and we are having more and more kids with things wrong with their mental systems. More and more kids at younger ages are killing people. It cant just be the water they are drinking.

[Frank 'N' Howie]

Crimeny...*Looks over her left shoulder and at HER 11 year old son sittin on the couch*...I really don't think he would do such a thing...There has to be some motive...

[gemini33]

I sometimes blame the movies we seem to let these kids watch and video games that shoot and kill anything that moves. Maybe it is the fact that these kids seem to have easy access to guns or he is suffering from some kind of mental illness that more and more kids seem to suffer from today. Illnesses I never saw or heard of while I was growing up. I sometimes wonder if all the drugs people did in the 60 to now have done something to the genes we are passing down and we are having more and more kids with things wrong with their mental systems. More and more kids at younger ages are killing people. It cant just be the water they are drinking.

Don't blame movies, video games or rap music. It's the parents. My parents taught me right and wrong. Video games and movies are fake. Not real life. I've been watching horror and action movies since I was a small tyke. Playing video games since I was 6. I'm 31 now and have no desire to go shoot people, highjack a car, butcher people, etc. Parents blame everyone else for their screwed up child.

[lolly89]

Don't blame movies, video games or rap music. It's the parents. My parents taught me right and wrong. Video games and movies are fake. Not real life. I've been watching horror and action movies since I was a small tyke. Playing video games since I was 6. I'm 31 now and have no desire to go shoot people, highjack a car, butcher people, etc. Parents blame everyone else for their screwed up child.

Well said Gemini!! I've been an avid gamer since....forever...shooter games mostly, love love LOVE horrror movies and also have a small but perfectly formed mental illness....managed never to kill anyone in my life! I think that blaming movies and computer games is far too easy a solution to a problem that, these days, seems endemic (SP?) If you arent taught the simple idea of consequences to your actions and have parents who are capable of leading you through the moral maze then that surely is more of a factor than some film you once saw! ..... thayt might just be me though...have had a bit of wine and not sure this makes sence

[NOVSTORM]

Don't blame movies, video games or rap music. It's the parents. My parents taught me right and wrong. Video games and movies are fake. Not real life. I've been watching horror and action movies since I was a small tyke. Playing video games since I was 6. I'm 31 now and have no desire to go shoot people, highjack a car, butcher people, etc. Parents blame everyone else for their screwed up child.

There are plenty of good parents out there who had good kids that went wrong. I think that many times kids that go bad are influenced more by their peers then the family. SO dont be blamiong the parents for all the kids that go wrong.
My parents also taught us right and worng but in some cases it doesnt sink it . You can show and teach but if it doesnt reach them? I dont know about you but the only violent things I ever saw was cowboy movies or bella lagosi, and there were never the killings that went on that there is today. I am 64 I remember when all of this started it was in the last 10 years or so when thihngs have really started to go haywire with kids . You can sit there all day long and tell me that it isnt movies or video games. No one I know as been playing those games for 31 years because they have not been oput for 31 years. The kids today have access to things we never even dreamed of because of the internet. They also had more parental guidance 30 and 40 years ago too. But I am not going to blame parents for things that I believe are out of the control. Blaming parents is the easy way out and not facing the real problems that we have today. It is a cop out.

[gemini33]

There are plenty of good parents out there who had good kids that went wrong. I think that many times kids that go bad are influenced more by their peers then the family. SO dont be blamiong the parents for all the kids that go wrong.
My parents also taught us right and worng but in some cases it doesnt sink it . You can show and teach but if it doesnt reach them? I dont know about you but the only violent things I ever saw was cowboy movies or bella lagosi, and there were never the killings that went on that there is today. I am 64 I remember when all of this started it was in the last 10 years or so when thihngs have really started to go haywire with kids . You can sit there all day long and tell me that it isnt movies or video games. No one I know as been playing those games for 31 years because they have not been oput for 31 years. The kids today have access to things we never even dreamed of because of the internet. They also had more parental guidance 30 and 40 years ago too. But I am not going to blame parents for things that I believe are out of the control. Blaming parents is the easy way out and not facing the real problems that we have today. It is a cop out.

I don't want to get banned. Sorry, I've always liked your post Nov. I just can't respond to this.

[My_Smiling_Skull]

Damn my nephew just turned 9 yesterday......
What the HELL..... could have made an 11 year old KILL someone???

[Ivy]

Maybe it is the fact that these kids seem to have easy access to guns or he is suffering from some kind of mental illness that more and more kids seem to suffer from today. Illnesses I never saw or heard of while I was growing up. I sometimes wonder if all the drugs people did in the 60 to now have done something to the genes we are passing down and we are having more and more kids with things wrong with their mental systems. More and more kids at younger ages are killing people. It cant just be the water they are drinking.

That's a good point and something to think about.

[baroque1]

I think its both. The more one is exposed to the more desensitized one gets. And the more one is exposed to one gets more ideas.
Good parenting is very challangeing in this enviorment of our current society. And fewer parents are able to be present for their children due to single parent homes and both parents working outside of the home. If your child is not with you....who are they with? Daycare...schools...people that perhaps dont have the same values?? There is such a backlash against good morals.....like the "tolerance" thing is more important than taking a stand on good morals.
And, before anyone gets their knickers in a knot....I am single parent who has many friends in many different social backgrounds, sexual orintation, races, and religious beliefs who is sitting here right now on the internet while my son is playing a video game. Neither one of us are a menace to society but ......clearly something is wrong with our society...we have lost our direction and I dont know how we can fix it.

Part of me thinks, well, look at history....there are cycles....is this time worse than say what the Romans were like? Will we rebound into a more conserative time with less corruption? Or will we explode and kill ourselves???? Have we taken it too far this time? Are there too many people and not enough resources that we havent already polluted? Are we more mentally and spiritually ill because we have polluted our resources and society??? I just dont know

[cindyt]

I sometimes blame the movies we seem to let these kids watch and video games that shoot and kill anything that moves. Maybe it is the fact that these kids seem to have easy access to guns or he is suffering from some kind of mental illness that more and more kids seem to suffer from today. Illnesses I never saw or heard of while I was growing up. I sometimes wonder if all the drugs people did in the 60 to now have done something to the genes we are passing down and we are having more and more kids with things wrong with their mental systems. More and more kids at younger ages are killing people. It cant just be the water they are drinking.

That reminds me of something I read not long after crack hit the streets. A doctor said something like "No telling what the future holds for children whose genes are going to be affected by crack and other drugs."

[stacebabe]

The mind boggles. I mean they just get younger and younger. At what point do children realize intent nowadays? It cannot possibly be the same as when the laws were written. Not with all the violence they're exposed to nowadays. It's so disheartening.

[lolly89]

There are plenty of good parents out there who had good kids that went wrong. I think that many times kids that go bad are influenced more by their peers then the family. SO dont be blamiong the parents for all the kids that go wrong.
My parents also taught us right and worng but in some cases it doesnt sink it . You can show and teach but if it doesnt reach them? I dont know about you but the only violent things I ever saw was cowboy movies or bella lagosi, and there were never the killings that went on that there is today. I am 64 I remember when all of this started it was in the last 10 years or so when thihngs have really started to go haywire with kids . You can sit there all day long and tell me that it isnt movies or video games. No one I know as been playing those games for 31 years because they have not been oput for 31 years. The kids today have access to things we never even dreamed of because of the internet. They also had more parental guidance 30 and 40 years ago too. But I am not going to blame parents for things that I believe are out of the control. Blaming parents is the easy way out and not facing the real problems that we have today. It is a cop out.

Well its the parents that bring the kiddies up (when I say parents I include legal guardians and wot not)...Movies dont bring them up, games dont bring them up, I love your posts Novs and I'm really really not trying to be a troll, I just think there is no diff now than parents trying to bring their kids up now than there was 20 - 30 years ago. Now parents try and be their kids best friends instead of the authority figures in their lives (my older siblings are between 6 - 17 years in age diff older than me), its way too easy to say that kids are so easily influenced but, in fairness, whos fault is that....just, and honestly peeps I'm not trolling, IMO its the parents

[**Jenna**]

wow! I shouldn't be suprised,I can't believe a 11 year old would do that,but kids are very strange nowadays.

[lynn wilson]

just read another forum...it was his fathers fiancee and baby..he was jealous they just found out it was going to be another boy. She was due in 2 weeks

[secretsquirrel13]

just read another forum...it was his fathers fiancee and baby..he was jealous they just found out it was going to be another boy. She was due in 2 weeks

Also on NBC they stated that he will be charged as an adult.

[Frank 'N' Howie]

Hell, when I was 11 all I was worried about was gettin home from school on time so I could watch looney tunes...

[Finnegan]

her four-year-old daughter found her body. Four years old. My god.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/02/...3661235260487/

WAMPUM, Pa., Feb. 21 (UPI) -- An 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy allegedly killed his father's pregnant fiancee because he was jealous, a relative said.

Lawrence County police said the boy was charged with criminal homicide and criminal homicide of an unborn child, the New York Daily News reported Saturday.

Kenzie Houk, 26, who was 8 months pregnant, was shot with a shotgun in her bed about 8 a.m. Friday in the family's farmhouse in Wampum, the newspaper said.

"It's tragic," a relative who preferred not to be named told the Daily News. "They were to be married. He was jealous."

After allegedly shooting Houk, the boy rode the bus to school with Houk's 8-year-old daughter. The victim's body was found later that morning by her 4-year-old daughter, who ran outside and flagged down tree trimmers working nearby, the Daily News said.

The boy's father, identified as Chris Brown, was at work at the time.

"I wouldn't know anybody in the whole world who would want to kill a 26-year-old beautiful daughter like mine and take a child," Houk's father, Jack, told MSNBC. "I don't know who would be crazy enough and nutty enough to want to do something like that -- has got to be sick. I hope they find out who it is and they give them life or whatever the got to do with them, it's horrifying."

[Snoopy]

I totally agree parents today are definately more interested in being their kids friend..it's sick..I'm from RI and Barrington RI is notorious for kids driving drunk and killing each other with cars..and then the whole story comes out..they got the alcohol from a party that was thrown by their/a friends parents!..the reasoning? we would rather have them drink here than somewhere else..they're going to drink anyway! Boggles the mind to give underage kids alcohol cuz they want to seem cool. As someone who has worked in DayCare for eight years..I have seen both ends.. the parent who wants to do the right thing and their kids are truly influenced by other kids..and the parent who just doesn't want to take responsibility and blames everyone else for their child's behaviour.

[Lita]

I read in today's paper that she'd had problems with this kid before. He shot her in the back of the head while she was asleep, then he boarded the bus and went to school. The police spent 5 hours looking for a 'suspicious black truck' the kid said he'd seen on the property. That poor little girl will have to spend the rest of her life with those images stuck in her head. I remember very little from when I was 4 years old but I'm sure that would have stuck with me.

[Pamebabby]

That happened very close to me- it's big news here. The boy will be charged as an adult. The lady was shot in the head with a shot-gun. I'd like to know how an 11 year old has access to a loaded shotgun. Totally fucked up, IMO.

[pvezz]

I just saw this story this morning. Wampum is close to where I work. The poor 4-year old......

[guardmom2008]

Crimeny...*Looks over her left shoulder and at HER 11 year old son sittin on the couch*...I really don't think he would do such a thing...There has to be some motive...

I agree Howie, I also have an 11yr old son and can't imagine him doing such a thing either.

[Pammijo]

Good question! I can't imagine being 11 years old and having such malice for someone and then shooting that person. When I was 11 I was more concerned about what was on TV and playing outside with my friends. The only thing I hated was homework and vegetables.

... and not necessarily in that order!

I can't relate to this as an accident. If it were an accident the wording of the reporting would be dfferent. They're being careful because its a homicide. Anything said now could impact the prosecution of the case later. He shot the woman. He did it intentionally. The authorities are trying to piece the case together to figure it all out. Horrifying.

[Lita]

This 11 year old boy used his own gun. At some point one of his parents thought it would be a good idea for a young boy to have a shotgun. WTF? He shot this woman and then put his gun back in his room and went to school. If you're going to buy your young child a gun, lock it up for Christ's sake.

Part of me is really struggling with the fact that this kid will spend 60-70 years in prison. This child is going to grow up in prison. He'll go through puberty in prison. Of course he'll have to be in Ad Seg for his own safety but part of me just can't see how putting this young boy in prison is the answer. Put him in juvenile corrections, he'll spend 10 years getting an education and treatment that he needs.

Now the other side of me says lock the little bastard up and throw away the key. He killed two innocent people. Obviously he knew what he had done was wrong since he lied to the police about a black truck on the property. He knew if he said he'd shot her that he'd be in trouble. The majority of me is thinking this way. Just lock the kid away, if he could do this at his age, what else will he do?

[secretsquirrel13]

I am all for treating him as an adult...it is about time..if these kids want to play adult games, they need to start learning to pay adult prices...maybe that will make at least SOME of them think first....

[mandee1005]

Did the news say that she was 26? If the son was 11 how old is the father/boyfriend???

[wildcatgrrl]

Don't know how old the dad is, but I met my hubby when I was 24, and he had an almost-10-year old son. Hubs was 30 then, so there's not necessarily a huge age difference between the victim and her fiance.

[Jazbabee]

I read in today's paper that she'd had problems with this kid before. He shot her in the back of the head while she was asleep, then he boarded the bus and went to school. The police spent 5 hours looking for a 'suspicious black truck' the kid said he'd seen on the property. That poor little girl will have to spend the rest of her life with those images stuck in her head. I remember very little from when I was 4 years old but I'm sure that would have stuck with me.

Very difficult to comprehend all of this. I mean it seems as if the kid was able to do this with absolutely no guilt or conscience about it at all.....simply unbelieveable !!

[Karma]

This is incomprehensible. An 11 year old killing anything is bad enough but his stepmom and stepbrother? I just don't get it.

[Jazbabee]

This is incomprehensible. An 11 year old killing anything is bad enough but his stepmom and stepbrother? I just don't get it.

Methinks there is a whole lot more to this story that we haven't heard about yet !!

[Karma]

Methinks there is a whole lot more to this story that we haven't heard about yet !!

Me thinks you are right.

[baroque1]

I agree. I want more details.

clearly emotional/mental health is in play here. Feelings of being replaced can be hard to cope with but Im just speculating

[Harrietd]

One article I read said that the gun was specially designed for children. Well, thank God. We wouldn't children shooting people with guns meant for adults. Sheesh.

[Harrietd]

Oh, and check out the kid's mug shot. He's got The Eyes.

[Lita]

He looks kind of sad. Of course after killing your step-mother and step-brother and then ending up in jail probably isn't something to look happy about. I can't imagine just shooting somebody in the back of the head and going off to school like nothing happened. I would at least have thought that he would have cried or something.

[Miho]

The making of a sociopath?

[Gorey]

This all happened about 35-40 minuted from where I live. Mom and dad and I do craft shows in that area. Tragic thing. There doesn't seem to be a motive either. Again I blame the parents- the father for not securing his firearms. Stupid Idiot.....

The warden of the jail is trying to get the kid transferred to juvenile facilities.

[Lita]

This all happened about 35-40 minuted from where I live. Mom and dad and I do craft shows in that area. Tragic thing. There doesn't seem to be a motive either. Again I blame the parents- the father for not securing his firearms. Stupid Idiot.....

The warden of the jail is trying to get the kid transferred to juvenile facilities.

It would probably be better for the kid at a juvenile detention facility while he awaits his trial. They're having a priliminary hearing on Thursday and the boy's lawyer is trying to get the case moved to Juvenile Court.

[Miho]

I guess the warden is saying that the prison is no place for a child. Does he want to take him home???? Go for it and let him sleep in the same house as your family. Stupid ass.

[Lita]

The warden is saying that the jail can't give the child proper care. He would like the child housed at a detention center where the child will most likely have a room to himself or with one other juvenile. It would probably be a better environment for the kid. In jail, this kid could become Bubba's playmate if jailers aren't careful. If the kid does end up going to prison, he'll be segregated for at least the first 7 years of his sentence.

[Miho]

The warden is saying that the jail can't give the child proper care. He would like the child housed at a detention center where the child will most likely have a room to himself or with one other juvenile. It would probably be a better environment for the kid. In jail, this kid could become Bubba's playmate if jailers aren't careful.

Little monster doesn't deserve that much. Let Bubby play with him and show that when you shoot your pregnant step mother there are consequences.

[Miho]

DA: Blanket is evidence Pa. boy planned to kill

By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press Writer Joe Mandak, Associated Press Writer Tue Feb 24, 12:00 am ET
PITTSBURGH – An 11-year-old boy apparently covered his shotgun with a blanket to keep it hidden when he left his bedroom, went downstairs and fatally shot his father's pregnant girlfriend in the head as she slept, a prosecutor said Monday.
The blue blanket, which has a quarter-sized hole that appeared to be singed from a shotgun blast, supports a claim that the crime was premeditated, Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo said.
Police found the blanket in the farmhouse where the boy, Jordan Brown, lived with his father; the father's girlfriend, Kenzie Marie Houk; and her two daughters, ages 7 and 4. Houk was killed Friday morning while Brown's father was at work and the two girls were in the home, authorities believe.
"The operating theory is that he covered the gun with the blanket to hide it when he came downstairs" from his bedroom to shoot Houk, who was in a first-floor bedroom, Bongivengo said. "It wasn't used to muffle (the shot) or anything, the blanket wasn't thick enough for that."
Brown got the youth-sized shotgun as a Christmas present, and used it to win a turkey shoot on Valentine's Day.
After shooting Houk, the boy ran to get on a school bus with the 7-year-old, who saw him toss something from his pocket on the ground, Bongivengo said. Police later found a spent 20-gauge shotgun shell at that spot.
The girl later implicated the boy in the killing, saying she saw him with what she believed to be a shotgun and heard a loud bang, Bongivengo has said.
Brown is charged as an adult with criminal homicide. In Pennsylvania, there is no criminal homicide charge in juvenile court.
"Because the juvenile system only has jurisdiction until he's 21, the last thing I want is a 21-year-old who's going to be out on the streets and willing to kill you," Bongivengo said.
Houk's family told police the boy had threatened her and her 7-year-old daughter in the weeks before the shooting, Bongivengo said. Houk's family has told The Associated Press the boy may have been jealous of Houk and her children.
"If this person were 18, we'd be looking at pursuing the death penalty," Bongivengo said.
Defense attorney Dennis Elisco has said he plans to ask a judge to move the case to juvenile court and to have the boy released on bail to his father. Brown is being held at the Lawrence County Jail, where jail officials said they don't have adequate accommodations for someone that young. He is being kept separate from the jail's approximately 300 adult inmates.
Elisco didn't return calls for comment Monday. He has said the boy hasn't confessed to the shooting and he doubts the physical evidence will support police's claim that the boy killed Houk with one shot to the back of her head.
The Associated Press could not immediately locate relatives of the boy and his father for comment Monday.